23 American History Questions Most Americans Get Wrong

4. Where did the pilgrims land in America?

Correct: Unknown
Incorrect: Plymouth Rock

According to The Washington Post, the reason we believe that Plymouth Rock is the spot where the pilgrims first touched U.S. soil is because, 121 years after their arrival, “a young boy overheard 95-year-old Thomas Faunce relate that his father, who came to Plymouth three years after the Mayflower, told him he’d heard from unnamed persons that the landing occurred there.”

But that’s a fact that’s based on a rumor that’s hundreds of years old. WaPo also reports that the English Puritan William Bradford neglected to mention Plymouth Rock in his book Of Plymouth Plantation, which would have been a pretty big oversight on his part if that was actually where they landed.